


Breathless

by jetplane



Series: Whumptober 2020 [21]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Episode: s04e24 Amplification, Gen, Hospitalization, Hospitals, Sick Character, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:34:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27171817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jetplane/pseuds/jetplane
Summary: Reid looks at Morgan on his cell phone. "Go help Hotch," he says in a raspy voice.Morgan watches the people in hazmat suits hose Spencer down. “Hotch has plenty of people helping him,” he replies."“He needs you more than I do,” Reid argues.“Reid, I’m going to see you off to the hospital."Slight canon divergence/episode expansion in which Morgan rides in the ambulance with Reid in "Amplification" and then waits for him to wake up at the hospital. Platonic with Moreid feels if you choose.prompt: infection (day 21)
Relationships: Derek Morgan & Spencer Reid
Series: Whumptober 2020 [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946050
Comments: 5
Kudos: 101
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Breathless

**Author's Note:**

> Once again, I'm still behind on this month's prompts. So this story is just a little bit of a dramatization of the anthrax episode. I hope you enjoy reading it!

“How are you feeling, Dr. Reid?”

Reid coughs. “My throat’s a little dry,” he admits. “But other than that, I fleel...fleel fin - I fleel - I fleel fin-”

“Reid?” Morgan asks in alarm. Spencer just shakes his head, looking equal parts confused and frustrated. “Kid?”

“Okay, Dr. Reid,” Kimura says quietly. She puts a hand on Morgan’s shoulder and looks to the front of the ambulance. “Driver, faster.”

Spencer opens his mouth again to try to speak, but nothing comes out. “What’s going on?” Derek demands, looking from Reid to Dr. Kimura and back again. 

“It’s called aphasia. The infection has most likely spread to his temporal lobe,” she explains. 

“Can’t you do anything about it?” he asks. 

Dr. Kimura shakes her head. “Not right here. There are medications that we can try at the hospital to slow the progression.”

“But you found the cure, right? Once he gets that, he’ll be okay?”

The doctor bites her lip. “‘Cure’ isn’t necessarily the most accurate term,” she says hesitantly. “What Nichols created was most likely a drug that targets the anthrax toxins. Those are what are responsible for most of the symptoms of anthrax infection.” Dr. Kimura checks the pulse oximeter on Reid’s finger and frowns. 

Reid tries to speak again but winds up in a coughing fit. A drop of red sprays from his lips and fear paints his expression as he tastes metal. Morgan’s eyes widen. “Reid!”

“Just stay calm,” Kimura says calmly. “Dr. Reid, I’m going to switch you to an oxygen mask. Just keep breathing as best you can.” She removes the nasal cannula from his face and slips the strap of a clear plastic mask over Spencer’s head, then turns up the flow of oxygen from the machine. “Deep breaths,” she instructs. 

Spencer shakes his head as more coughs escape his lips. Derek can see dark blood splatter inside the oxygen mask. He reaches over and grabs one of the younger agent’s hands. “It’s going to be okay, pretty boy,” he tries to reassure him. “We’re almost to the hospital.” He glances at Dr. Kimura for some reassurance of his own. “Right?”

She nods, a serious expression on her face. “Just a few more minutes,” she promises, watching her patient intently. “I know it’s hard, but just try to breathe as deeply as possible. You’re doing really well, Dr. Reid.” The agent manages a weak thumbs-up in response. Through the plastic oxygen mask, both passengers can hear the increased effort he puts into every inhale. Spencer’s eyelids flutter.

“Hey, pretty boy, don’t do that,” Morgan warns. “Keep looking at me.” The younger agent fixes his sluggish gaze on Derek’s face, and his friend gives him a worried smile. “Yeah, that’s better.” He squeezes Reid’s hand just as his lungs seize and he goes into another fit of coughing. On Spencer’s oxygen monitor, Morgan and Kimura both see his oxygen levels drop. The doctor reaches for her patient’s mask and pulls it off his face. “What are you doing?” Morgan demands. 

“There’s too much blood in his airway,” she says, inserting a small tube connected to a suction device into Reid’s mouth. Spencer gags and cringes as the plastic touches the back of his throat, but within seconds, he can feel the metallic liquid start to clear from his mouth. When Dr. Kimura stops the suction and replaces Reid’s mask onto his face, he gasps as fresh oxygen fills his lungs. The young agent gives Morgan’s hand a reassuring squeeze to let him know that he’s still conscious. 

The ambulance jerks to a stop, and the back doors are thrown open. People in scrubs lift the stretcher onto the ground as Dr. Kimura shouts rapid-fire instructions to the hospital staff. In the chaos, someone pulls Reid’s hand away from Morgan’s. By the time he can get his bearings, Spencer is completely gone. 

He hurries into the building, trying to find his friend. Derek’s phone rings and he answers it without looking. “SSA Morgan.”

“Morgan, it’s Hotch. How’s Reid?” 

“We just got to the hospital,” Derek reports. “They just took him away. I think Dr. Kimura is with him but - Hotch - he started coughing up blood in the ambulance. And he couldn’t talk. He was trying to talk but-”

“Morgan, I need you to trust that the doctors are doing everything they can,” Aaron instructs him. “Is there anything you can do for him right now?”

“No, but-”

Hotch cuts him off again. “Then I need you in the field.”

Derek looks around the emergency room helplessly. There’s no sign of the younger agent. “Hotch, I don’t want him to be alone.”

“Reid would understand. I’ll see you at the station.” With that, the unit chief hangs up. 

-

The case closes quickly. The team manages to talk down the unsub without anyone getting hurt, and he quickly hands over the samples of anthrax intended for the subway. The moment it’s safe, Derek and the rest of the team are driving to the hospital. 

“I need information on a patient, Dr. Spencer Reid,” Morgan demands to the man at the ER desk, holding up his badge. “He has an-” The agent quickly stops himself when he remembers that the case is classified. “He had an infection in his lungs and he came in an ambulance a little while ago.”

“Are you family?” the hospital worker asks. 

Derek shakes his head and frustratedly shoves his credentials into the man’s face. “I’m his medical proxy.” JJ grabs Morgan’s arm and he retracts the badge. Getting upset won’t help anyone. 

He nods and types something into the computer. “I’ll get someone to update you as soon as possible.”

A few minutes later, Dr. Kimura comes out of a hallway. “Agents,” she greets, looking at the group gathered worriedly around her. 

“How is he?” Prentiss asks. 

She doesn’t mince her words. “They had to intubate him as soon as he arrived. He’s on a ventilator right now, and they’re setting up a room for him in the ICU.”

“A ventilator means that he - he can’t breathe on his own, right?” JJ asks worriedly. The doctor nods. “Is that really bad?”

“It’s not a great sign,” Kimura admits. “But he’s currently receiving intravenous antibiotics as well as Nichols’ antitoxin through a nebulizer. So far, the combination has kept him and the other patients stable.”

“Can we see him?” Morgan asks. 

The doctor hesitates. Finally, she nods. “I’ll let you know once he’s settled in his room.”

Hotch nods at her. “Thank you, doctor.” They all watch as she leaves. 

-

True to her word, Dr. Kimura returns a short while later. “I can take you to see Dr. Reid now.”

The hospital room is still and mostly quiet, two words rarely associated with Reid. Garcia gasps as she sees how frail her boy genius looks in his hospital bed. “Oh,” she whimpers, hurrying to the side of his bed to stroke his hair. “Reid.”

“I know he doesn’t look good now, but trust me, this is a vast improvement over when we started his treatment,” Dr. Kimura says. “His vitals are much more stable than before and the bleeding in his airway has stopped.”

“When is he going to wake up?” Derek asks.

She sighs. “It’s difficult to say. We just don’t know enough about this strain of anthrax or its antitoxin.” 

“But he will wake up, right? He’ll be alright?” JJ questions. 

Her hesitation tells them that she’s not confident about that, either. “The speed at which Dr. Reid developed aphasia is also something that I’m concerned about. There is a possibility of permanent neurological impairment.”

“Permanent?” Penelope echoes shakily, looking like she’s about to cry.

“Again, there’s just so much we don’t know right now. It will all depend on what happens when he wakes up,” Kimura replies. “I don’t want you to worry until there’s something to worry about. Dr. Reid is strong and his condition is improving. That’s all we know for sure.”

-

Reid starts breathing on his own later that night, and the doctors are able to extubate him early in the morning. By the afternoon, they’ve switched out his oxygen mask for a nasal cannula. They say he could wake up at any moment. The whole team gathers in his room, waiting and hoping and rearranging the gift baskets and flower bouquets mostly purchased by Penelope. But he doesn’t wake up. 

‘What’s wrong?” Morgan demands as he finds one of Reid’s doctors in the hospital hallway. “You said he was fine; why hasn’t he woken up yet?”

“I don’t know,” the doctor answers honestly. “There’s nothing worrisome on any of his brain scans. Sometimes these things just take time.”

“Isn’t there anything you can do?” 

“Agent Morgan, I can assure you that we’re already doing everything we can for Dr. Reid,” he says calmly. “All we can do is wait.”

Derek shakes his head frustratedly. “I’m sick of waiting,” he mutters. 

Hotch comes out of Reid’s room and puts a hand on Morgan’s shoulder. “Morgan,” he says gently. “I know this is hard, but maybe you should go home and get some rest.”

Morgan immediately shakes his head. “I’m not leaving until he wakes up.”

Aaron sighs. “I understand.” He watches Morgan push his way back into the room and take Reid’s hand. 

-

Derek spends the night in Reid’s hospital room, sleeping on a cot that he somehow managed to convince an orderly to find for him. In the morning, the team arrives again. Hotch forces Morgan to eat something before he steps outside to get an update on Reid’s condition. Meanwhile, the younger agent flips through one of Penelope’s magazines to try and distract himself. 

“You’re eating Jell-O?” Morgan’s heart nearly stops when he hears his voice. 

“Hey, kid.” He can’t stop a smile from spreading across his face as Reid looks groggily into his eyes. He knows that his friend might not be fully healed and that he still has a long road to recovery, but in that moment, Morgan knows that everything is going to be alright.

**Author's Note:**

> If you want a more angsty ending for "Amplification," check out my one-shot called Heroes. I can almost promise that it will not make you happy, lol.
> 
> Also, if anyone has requests for Whumptober or just a fic in general, please let me know in the comments or at my Tumblr, @jet-plane. Thanks for reading!


End file.
